Agenda

March

Playing with Scale: How Designers Use Set Models

Taking the Jocelyn Herbert Archive as a starting point, the exhibition “Playing with Scale” presents five sets from the National Theatre London. Jocelyn Herbert (1917–2003) is a stage designer known for her laconic, but also atmospherically dense style. Two current productions by the stage designers Anthony Ward (“Exit the King”) and Hildegard Bechtler (“Antony & Cleopatra”) will also be in the spotlight. According to exhibition curator Eleanor Margolies, the exhibition also focuses on how stage sets can function as an “exquisite miniature world” in the preliminary rehearsal process, and as a starting point for a creative and democratic exchange between the various actors and trades involved in the production. The exhibits include built models as well as first sketch attempts and everything up to and including 3D models.

Femmes Fatales. Strong Women in Fashion

The first female fashion designers had to fight for space in a male-dominated world. Many companies originally founded by men are now run by women. In this context, the “Femmes Fatales. Strong Women in Fashion” exhibition is dedicated to the role of female designers in the fashion world and displays works by Dutch designers such as Iris van Herpen and Fong Leng and also internationally renowned designers including Coco Chanel, Vivienne Westwood, Miuccia Prada and Mary Quant.

Le Monde de Tardi

The Cartoonmuseum Basel is currently holding a retrospective with over 200 original drawings by comic artist Jacques Tardi, whose clever visuals have left their mark on generations of comic artists. With sometimes frightening directness, Tardi’s line drawings confront the reader with the cruel reality of war or grab our attention with the solution to a new case for private detective Nestor Burma. The highlights of the exhibition are originals from the recently published volume three of the series “Stalag II B”.

Home Futures

The question of how we will live in the future has occupied designers down the ages. But what happens to these visions when the future has been reached from that earlier point of view? The “Home Futures” exhibition displays futuristic designs from the 20th century created by designers such as Ettore Sottsass, Joe Colombo, Superstudio, and Enzo Mari and juxtaposes them with current developments. Scenarios and questions – relevant back then and now – are divided into subject areas and approaches to solutions are presented, such as living in limited space, modern nomadism, minimalism, and smart homes. The exhibition was created in co-operation with the IKEA Museum in Älmhult, Sweden and will also be on show there after it closes in London.

Andy Warhol. Pop Goes Art

For the first time, the exhibition “Andy Warhol. Pop Goes Art” is showing almost all of the album covers designed by Andy Warhol, together with the myriad sketches and designs that he did for them. The exhibits also include a range of films and audio clips that contribute to a comprehensive showcasing of the interplay between art and music. Warhol (1928–1987) worked with the medium of records from 1949 onwards, first as a commercial artist mainly designing the covers of jazz LPs, before moving on to design overall concepts for album covers in a range of genres in the 1960s, including “Sticky Fingers” (1971) by The Rolling Stones and the eponymous debut album by The Velvet Underground (1967).

The Road Ahead: Reimagining Mobility

The exhibition “The Road Ahead: Reimagining Mobility” looks at mobility in the future and presents 40 projects on relevant technologies. How are we going to move? How will we transport goods? How will mobility services develop? In addition to contemporary projects, such as the immersive sound work “Sound of the Future City” by the engineering firm Arup, historical works from the museum’s collection can also be seen.

Digital Imaginaries. Africas in Production

The topics of digitisation and digital transformation are major drivers for companies, governments, and societies worldwide. Following exhibitions, workshops, and events in Senegal and South Africa, the exhibition and research project “Digital Imaginaries” is currently showcasing contemporary works by African artists in Karlsruhe that address the “contradictory diversity of digital phenomena in African”. The works shown in the exhibition point to the African stories, practices, and realities that come to bear in this context and aim to inspire reflection on what an emancipated digital future can look like without necessarily conforming to market-oriented interests and post-colonial hegemony.

Back Side – Fashion from Behind

Our back makes up a large area of our body – and yet it still eludes our own field of vision and often our consciousness. The exhibition “Back Side – Fashion from Behind” has assembled 70 creations that show how fashion design has dealt with the back in different ways. Whether as a sassy revealing, a place for statements and motifs, silhouettes forming lacing or straps for heavy loads, the back can set the scene and be used and interpreted in many ways. With works by labels and designers such as Chanel, Jean Paul Gaultier, Raf Simons, and Balmain, the show provides an overview of this potential for creativity from the 18th century to the present day.

Sagmeister and Walsh. Beauty

With a large-scale, interactive exhibition, Stefan Sagmeister – this time together with Jessica Walsh – is now dedicating himself after happiness to another grand theme of human culture: beauty. To prove that beauty is more than pure superficiality, various installations and objects invite visitors to examine the different facets of this concept: from digital experiments on symmetry to experiencing sound, colour, and scent through the senses to the question of what makes one person attractive to another. The topic areas, “What Is Beauty?”, “The History of Beauty”, “In the Eye of the Beholder”, “Experience Beauty”, and “Transforming Beauty” will be rounded off by “The Beauty Archive” curated by Sagmeister and Walsh, presenting a selection of “particularly beautiful” exhibits from the museum’s collection.

Brutally Modern. Buildings and Lifestyle in the 60s and 70s

With its exhibition entitled “Brutally Modern. Buildings and Lifestyle in the 60s and 70s”, pointing to regional buildings from this period as an example, the Braunschweigisches Landesmuseum highlights the dilemma of dealing with post-war modernist buildings. Where some see concrete monsters that should be torn down, others see architectural pearls that need to be protected.

Where Things Live. The Self-Storage Phenomenon

It isn’t just museums that are places of collecting. In the course of our lives, each and every one of us accumulates objects which have more or less emotional value for us, and that we find it hard to get rid of. Against a background of widespread consumerism and burgeoning minimalist movements, the exhibition addresses the phenomenon of self-storage in rentable storage units and gives us a snapshot of Viennese residents using storage units for for all sorts of purposes – from family archives to extra wardrobe space.

Videonale 17. Refracted Realities

The Videonale e. V. – Association for the Promotion of Cultural Education has been organising the international festival for video and time-based art forms every two years since 1984. This year’s theme is “Refracted Realities”, and the initiative calls for a critical examination of representations of dominant points of view through an artistic approach, with the aim of presenting current positions and approaches in the time-based arts to a broad audience. It is also about promoting young, up-and-coming artists whose works will be presented alongside the work of established positions in video art.

Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018

Nowadays, programmed systems are an everyday thing for us, but their influence on art can be traced back to the 1960s. This exhibition is divided into two sections: “Rule, Instruction, Algorithm” deals with the question of how images and objects can be generated based on systems and specifications; “Signal, Sequence, Resolution” focuses on works that manipulate (television) images using code. One highlight is the work “Fin de Siècle II” by Nam June Paik presented between the two areas, which is on public display again for the first time after six years of restoration work. Also, the augmented reality artwork “Unexpected Growth” by Tamiko Thiel simulating the flooding of New York, will celebrate its premiere here.

Frankfurt Modernism. 1919–1933

The exhibition “Frankfurt Modernism” showcases artefacts from Frankfurt during the Weimar Republic, and is the first attempt to comprehensively reappraise this epoch in terms of design history – approaching the claim of that time of designing the city anew both aesthetically and socially. Given the 600 or so exhibits that have been announced, we should be prepared to see all sorts of things.

West of Modernism: California Graphic Design, 1975–1995

For many generations, California has been a place of aspiration and a symbol of freedom, liberality, and individual development. This was also true of graphic design in the second half of the 20th century. During this period, many designers increasingly emancipated themselves from the generally valid and rigid rules of modernism, which were upheld primarily by the established scene in New York. Spurred on further by the new opportunities offered by rapidly advancing technological progress, the West Coast forged its own path, both in practice and theory. As part of its Graphic Design Initiative, which aims to gradually build up a comprehensive graphic design collection, the LACMA sheds light on the period between 1975 and 1995 by means of posters and publications.

Get Out and Vote! Posters for Germany’s First Democratic Elections

The first democratic elections took place in Germany 100 years ago. The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg is reviving associated election campaigns from the past by showcasing posters and other printed matter from this period. The exhibition at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg aims to remind visitors that as a form of government democracy was not always a given and had to be defended.

Einfach gut. Design aus Dänemark

[Simply Good. Design from Denmark] When it comes to Danish design, most people probably think of wellknown mid-century classics. This exhibition wants to prove that this country has much more to offer. Although the exhibits include furniture and lighting by Finn Juhl, Verner Panton, and Nanna Ditzel, these are complemented by new interpretations of craftsmanship and projects that see design as a tool for tackling major global problems. As a result, the curators want to leave behind the purely nostalgic perspective and raise questions about sustainability, social perception, and the image of Danish design. The exhibition was shown in Berlin back in 2017 and has been extended and adapted for the Wilhelm Wagenfeld Haus.

Koloman Moser

Almost no one other than Koloman Moser (1868–1918) lived up to the ideal of the universal artist held in high esteem by the Vienna Secession; his work extends from painting to the design of furniture, objects, and interiors to stage design and fashion. This retrospective to mark the centenary of his death looks at his extensive oeuvre in chronological order and, at the same time, includes those who blazed a trail and accompanied him on his path. Arranged in stages of his life, beginning with Vienna as a source of inspiration and concluding with Moser’s final return to painting, the “Koloman Moser. Universal Artist between Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann” exhibition presents 600 exhibits, many of which have previously never been accessible to the public.

Dea Trier Mørch. Into the World

Driven by her own experiences, the Danish author and artist Dea Trier Mørch wrote the novel “Vinterbørn” [Winter’s Child] in 1976. This publication made her well-known all over Europe. The Louisana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk is showcasing the linocuts she created on the basis of her novel. The sensitive yet abstract depiction of human physicality in her work is utterly convincing. What is more, they provide a female view of environments such as a maternity ward. The exhibition shows around ninety works by the artist.

The Secret Life of Textiles: The Milton Sonday Archive

Milton Sonday is famous for his technical drawings of handmade fabrics. Following the transfer of his archive to the Antonio Ratti Textile Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibition “The Secret Life of Textiles” presents an initial selection of his studies on the structure of lace fabrics, the wide range of embroideries and the diversity of woven patterns. In collaboration with Sonday, the Antonio Ratti Textile Center has already sighted the first part of the donated archive, but the cataloguing of his entire life’s work is ongoing.

Paula, Emil, Willi and Eddy: Hans Traxler for Children

On the occasion of the 90th birthday of cartoonist, children’s book author and co-founder of the satirical magazine “Titanic”, Hans Traxler, this exhibition presents more than 100 of his works for children. Traxler was honoured with the Göttinger Elch, the Deutscher Karikaturenpreis and the Wilhelm-Busch Prize, alongside other prizes for his life’s work. The exhibition showcases his first children’s book “Fünf Hunde erben eine Million” (Five Dogs Inherit a Million) from 1979, his illustrations of children’s books on great poets and thinkers and his most recent works.

Cultural Threads

In the exhibition “Cultural Threads”, textiles serve as mediators and witnesses of sociopolitical connections in a world whose boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred. Stories are discovered and told, relationships are revealed, identities are shaped, and perspectives for the future are opened up. In addition to works by international textile artists such as Hana Miletić, Otobong Nkanga, Aiko Tezuka, and Mary Sibande, new works have been created especially for the exhibition in the Textiel Lab. Eylem Aladogan, for example, uses textiles from the Ottoman Empire to examine her Turkish origins and the political situation there under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while Vincent Vulsma, using sculptures, tackles the historical role of fabrics and indigo in the slave trade.

Corita Kent. Power Up

First nun, then artist and activist: Corita Kent turned pop art into protest. Using the striking aesthetics of the advertising world in her silk-screen prints, which at first glance looked like harmless packaging, Kent was in fact highlighting social problems such as sexism, racism, and war. With seventy silk-screen prints, the exhibition aims to illustrate the development of Kent’s work.

Anton Lorenz. Von der Avantgarde zur Industrie

We might wonder why the Vitra Design Museum has treated the estate of the entrepreneur and designer Anton so cautiously, though it has been included there since the founding phase of what is probably Germany’s best-known design museum. But we can also rejoice in the fact that now – Bauhaus celebrations are also taking place here – insights are being granted in the Weiler Schaudepot into this man’s work, albeit out of which Hitler’s personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, in line with product and propaganda requirements of the time created designs.

Not My Thing. Gender in Design

Gender identities are changing: people are increasingly rejecting conventional notions of how a woman or man should be and look. The perpetuation of stereotypes connected to biological sex can operate via our designed environment, which includes clothing, advertising, and objects, and since these are always linked to constructed worlds, you might say that design has a significant role to play. Using examples and works from the fields of design research, product design, the fashion world, and art, the exhibition explores the question of what it means to be gender-specific, gender-sensitive or gender-blind in design.

Die neue Heimat (1950–1982). A Social Democratic Utopia and Its Buildings

Taken over and renamed by the National Socialists and after the Second World War then run by the German Confederation of Trade Unions, the non-state housing construction group Neue Heimat was considered to be one of the most relevant construction companies in post-war Europe. It was responsible for the construction of more than 400,000 residential, municipal, and commercial buildings, some of which still exist today. Using examples such as the Neue Vahr in Bremen with the residential tower designed by Alvar Aalto, or the overflow city of Neuperlach in Munich, the largest housing project in Europe of its time planned for 80,000 residents, the exhibition analyses the buildings and projects of Neue Heimat and supports these with photographs, film productions, planning materials, and original models.

The Art Happens Here: Net Art’s Archival Poetics

The Rhizome Initiative for the Conservation of Digital Art and Culture, based at the New Museum in New York, presents selected net art works based on its two-year online exhibition “Net Art Anthology”. The aim is to reveal the processes of archiving work with artistic practice on the Internet. For two years, Rhizome has been publishing regular posts on individual art projects from different decades on a specially created website. The idea is that this project will illustrate the history of digital art since the 1980s and sketch a possible canon. Some projects take place or have taken place exclusively in virtual space, others are and have been expanded offline.

100 Prozent Wolle

5 November 2017 saw the opening of the special exhibition of the Museum Europäischer Kulturen in Berlin: it is about wool. The interdisciplinary exhibition aims to explore the origin, processing and cultural background of wool, and to appeal to all age groups, while encouraging visitors to play and participate. The exhibition aims to provide a comprehensive picture that sheds light on manufacturing processes, shepherd’s lives and shearing, combing and washing, as well as processing into yarns, textiles, and building materials. This highlights the theme of cultural roots in an age where we see so many losses of traditions.

Like you! Freundschaft digital und analog

As studies have shown many times, having friends is a basic human need, because loneliness makes you ill (↗ form 280, p. 70). The exhibition “Like You! Friendship – Digital and Analogue” asks what constitutes friendship and, above all, what changes digital media and means of communication are causing in this respect. Arranged into sections entitled “Making Friends”, “Having Friends”, and “Losing Friends” this special kind of interpersonal relationship is examined throughout all eras. The “discovery table” then offers the possibility of interacting and exchanging information with one another, either analogously or digitally, from using messages sent by note to those sent by robots. The supporting programme of guided tours, discussions, workshops, and film screenings is aimed at both adults and children.

Shine on Me. Wir und die Sonne

The sun enables and influences life on earth like nothing else. It is the energy source, rhythm generator, and centre of our planetary system – and has not yet been completely researched, not by far. No wonder, therefore, that mankind has always had a special relationship with this star. The “Shine on Me. The Sun and Us” exhibition is dedicated to the sun and the many facets of its scientific and cultural significance. Divided into seven areas, its role is examined as a deity, timer, symbol, emitter of light, health factor, energy source, and star. From ancient rituals to modern technology, this covers a broad spectrum of human history. The topic is made more accessible to both children and adults with an accompanying programme of lectures, discussions, readings, and guided tours.

Politics of Design, Design of Politics

With the exhibition “Friedrich von Borries. Politics of Design – Design of Politics”, the Neue Sammlung continues its exhibition series on contemporary positions in design, launched in 2015, and now in its fourth year. Under the conceptual direction of Friedrich von Borries, the exhibition breaks down museum boundaries in the permanent collection and combines museum pieces with DIY objects contributed by participants in an open call. The heart of the exhibition is its aim to question the interaction between design and politics: To what extent are design objects products of political dynamics? How can design contribute to changing these dynamics? These questions will be discussed in the context of the exhibition in workshops with representatives from politics, science, and culture.

111/99. Questioning the Modernist Design Vocabulary

At the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge in Berlin there is a sequence of four exhibitions on show, the last of which runs until the beginning of next year. These exhibitions demonstrate the connections between the Deutscher Werkbund, founded in 1907, and the Bauhaus, founded in 1919, and also the influences on modernism emanating from the institutions. The first part in the series displays commercial graphics that illustrate the development from Art Nouveau to modernism.

Reflex Bauhaus

Bauhaus in 2019 is going to be celebrated throughout the world with a large number of exhibitions and projects. The Design Museum in Munich is also taking up the theme and at the same time emphasises its own historical ties, directly after the founding of the museum in 1925. “Reflex Bauhaus. 40 Objects – 5 Conversations” not only presents a large number of original objects from the collection’s inventory, including textiles, furniture, lighting, and ceramics, but also places them in context with contemporary works. Five artists, namely the designer Ayzit Bostan, the poet Barbara Köhler, the architect Anupama Kundoo, the composer Junya Oikawa, and the artist Sofie Thorsen have been invited to develop a stance in dialogue with one of the exhibits. The aim is to “enable viewers to not only identify the historical origins of these objects, but also to reflect on them today”.

April

Where Things Live. The Self-Storage Phenomenon

It isn’t just museums that are places of collecting. In the course of our lives, each and every one of us accumulates objects which have more or less emotional value for us, and that we find it hard to get rid of. Against a background of widespread consumerism and burgeoning minimalist movements, the exhibition addresses the phenomenon of self-storage in rentable storage units and gives us a snapshot of Viennese residents using storage units for for all sorts of purposes – from family archives to extra wardrobe space.

Frankfurt Modernism. 1919–1933

The exhibition “Frankfurt Modernism” showcases artefacts from Frankfurt during the Weimar Republic, and is the first attempt to comprehensively reappraise this epoch in terms of design history – approaching the claim of that time of designing the city anew both aesthetically and socially. Given the 600 or so exhibits that have been announced, we should be prepared to see all sorts of things.

Programmed: Rules, Codes, and Choreographies in Art, 1965–2018

Nowadays, programmed systems are an everyday thing for us, but their influence on art can be traced back to the 1960s. This exhibition is divided into two sections: “Rule, Instruction, Algorithm” deals with the question of how images and objects can be generated based on systems and specifications; “Signal, Sequence, Resolution” focuses on works that manipulate (television) images using code. One highlight is the work “Fin de Siècle II” by Nam June Paik presented between the two areas, which is on public display again for the first time after six years of restoration work. Also, the augmented reality artwork “Unexpected Growth” by Tamiko Thiel simulating the flooding of New York, will celebrate its premiere here.

Videonale 17. Refracted Realities

The Videonale e. V. – Association for the Promotion of Cultural Education has been organising the international festival for video and time-based art forms every two years since 1984. This year’s theme is “Refracted Realities”, and the initiative calls for a critical examination of representations of dominant points of view through an artistic approach, with the aim of presenting current positions and approaches in the time-based arts to a broad audience. It is also about promoting young, up-and-coming artists whose works will be presented alongside the work of established positions in video art.

West of Modernism: California Graphic Design, 1975–1995

For many generations, California has been a place of aspiration and a symbol of freedom, liberality, and individual development. This was also true of graphic design in the second half of the 20th century. During this period, many designers increasingly emancipated themselves from the generally valid and rigid rules of modernism, which were upheld primarily by the established scene in New York. Spurred on further by the new opportunities offered by rapidly advancing technological progress, the West Coast forged its own path, both in practice and theory. As part of its Graphic Design Initiative, which aims to gradually build up a comprehensive graphic design collection, the LACMA sheds light on the period between 1975 and 1995 by means of posters and publications.

Get Out and Vote! Posters for Germany’s First Democratic Elections

The first democratic elections took place in Germany 100 years ago. The Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg is reviving associated election campaigns from the past by showcasing posters and other printed matter from this period. The exhibition at the Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg aims to remind visitors that as a form of government democracy was not always a given and had to be defended.

Koloman Moser

Almost no one other than Koloman Moser (1868–1918) lived up to the ideal of the universal artist held in high esteem by the Vienna Secession; his work extends from painting to the design of furniture, objects, and interiors to stage design and fashion. This retrospective to mark the centenary of his death looks at his extensive oeuvre in chronological order and, at the same time, includes those who blazed a trail and accompanied him on his path. Arranged in stages of his life, beginning with Vienna as a source of inspiration and concluding with Moser’s final return to painting, the “Koloman Moser. Universal Artist between Gustav Klimt and Josef Hoffmann” exhibition presents 600 exhibits, many of which have previously never been accessible to the public.

Einfach gut. Design aus Dänemark

[Simply Good. Design from Denmark] When it comes to Danish design, most people probably think of wellknown mid-century classics. This exhibition wants to prove that this country has much more to offer. Although the exhibits include furniture and lighting by Finn Juhl, Verner Panton, and Nanna Ditzel, these are complemented by new interpretations of craftsmanship and projects that see design as a tool for tackling major global problems. As a result, the curators want to leave behind the purely nostalgic perspective and raise questions about sustainability, social perception, and the image of Danish design. The exhibition was shown in Berlin back in 2017 and has been extended and adapted for the Wilhelm Wagenfeld Haus.

Dea Trier Mørch. Into the World

Driven by her own experiences, the Danish author and artist Dea Trier Mørch wrote the novel “Vinterbørn” [Winter’s Child] in 1976. This publication made her well-known all over Europe. The Louisana Museum of Modern Art in Humlebæk is showcasing the linocuts she created on the basis of her novel. The sensitive yet abstract depiction of human physicality in her work is utterly convincing. What is more, they provide a female view of environments such as a maternity ward. The exhibition shows around ninety works by the artist.

Paula, Emil, Willi and Eddy: Hans Traxler for Children

On the occasion of the 90th birthday of cartoonist, children’s book author and co-founder of the satirical magazine “Titanic”, Hans Traxler, this exhibition presents more than 100 of his works for children. Traxler was honoured with the Göttinger Elch, the Deutscher Karikaturenpreis and the Wilhelm-Busch Prize, alongside other prizes for his life’s work. The exhibition showcases his first children’s book “Fünf Hunde erben eine Million” (Five Dogs Inherit a Million) from 1979, his illustrations of children’s books on great poets and thinkers and his most recent works.

The Secret Life of Textiles: The Milton Sonday Archive

Milton Sonday is famous for his technical drawings of handmade fabrics. Following the transfer of his archive to the Antonio Ratti Textile Center at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the exhibition “The Secret Life of Textiles” presents an initial selection of his studies on the structure of lace fabrics, the wide range of embroideries and the diversity of woven patterns. In collaboration with Sonday, the Antonio Ratti Textile Center has already sighted the first part of the donated archive, but the cataloguing of his entire life’s work is ongoing.

Cultural Threads

In the exhibition “Cultural Threads”, textiles serve as mediators and witnesses of sociopolitical connections in a world whose boundaries are becoming increasingly blurred. Stories are discovered and told, relationships are revealed, identities are shaped, and perspectives for the future are opened up. In addition to works by international textile artists such as Hana Miletić, Otobong Nkanga, Aiko Tezuka, and Mary Sibande, new works have been created especially for the exhibition in the Textiel Lab. Eylem Aladogan, for example, uses textiles from the Ottoman Empire to examine her Turkish origins and the political situation there under Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, while Vincent Vulsma, using sculptures, tackles the historical role of fabrics and indigo in the slave trade.

Corita Kent. Power Up

First nun, then artist and activist: Corita Kent turned pop art into protest. Using the striking aesthetics of the advertising world in her silk-screen prints, which at first glance looked like harmless packaging, Kent was in fact highlighting social problems such as sexism, racism, and war. With seventy silk-screen prints, the exhibition aims to illustrate the development of Kent’s work.

Not My Thing. Gender in Design

Gender identities are changing: people are increasingly rejecting conventional notions of how a woman or man should be and look. The perpetuation of stereotypes connected to biological sex can operate via our designed environment, which includes clothing, advertising, and objects, and since these are always linked to constructed worlds, you might say that design has a significant role to play. Using examples and works from the fields of design research, product design, the fashion world, and art, the exhibition explores the question of what it means to be gender-specific, gender-sensitive or gender-blind in design.

Anton Lorenz. Von der Avantgarde zur Industrie

We might wonder why the Vitra Design Museum has treated the estate of the entrepreneur and designer Anton so cautiously, though it has been included there since the founding phase of what is probably Germany’s best-known design museum. But we can also rejoice in the fact that now – Bauhaus celebrations are also taking place here – insights are being granted in the Weiler Schaudepot into this man’s work, albeit out of which Hitler’s personal photographer, Heinrich Hoffmann, in line with product and propaganda requirements of the time created designs.

Die neue Heimat (1950–1982). A Social Democratic Utopia and Its Buildings

Taken over and renamed by the National Socialists and after the Second World War then run by the German Confederation of Trade Unions, the non-state housing construction group Neue Heimat was considered to be one of the most relevant construction companies in post-war Europe. It was responsible for the construction of more than 400,000 residential, municipal, and commercial buildings, some of which still exist today. Using examples such as the Neue Vahr in Bremen with the residential tower designed by Alvar Aalto, or the overflow city of Neuperlach in Munich, the largest housing project in Europe of its time planned for 80,000 residents, the exhibition analyses the buildings and projects of Neue Heimat and supports these with photographs, film productions, planning materials, and original models.

The Art Happens Here: Net Art’s Archival Poetics

The Rhizome Initiative for the Conservation of Digital Art and Culture, based at the New Museum in New York, presents selected net art works based on its two-year online exhibition “Net Art Anthology”. The aim is to reveal the processes of archiving work with artistic practice on the Internet. For two years, Rhizome has been publishing regular posts on individual art projects from different decades on a specially created website. The idea is that this project will illustrate the history of digital art since the 1980s and sketch a possible canon. Some projects take place or have taken place exclusively in virtual space, others are and have been expanded offline.

100 Prozent Wolle

5 November 2017 saw the opening of the special exhibition of the Museum Europäischer Kulturen in Berlin: it is about wool. The interdisciplinary exhibition aims to explore the origin, processing and cultural background of wool, and to appeal to all age groups, while encouraging visitors to play and participate. The exhibition aims to provide a comprehensive picture that sheds light on manufacturing processes, shepherd’s lives and shearing, combing and washing, as well as processing into yarns, textiles, and building materials. This highlights the theme of cultural roots in an age where we see so many losses of traditions.

Like you! Freundschaft digital und analog

As studies have shown many times, having friends is a basic human need, because loneliness makes you ill (↗ form 280, p. 70). The exhibition “Like You! Friendship – Digital and Analogue” asks what constitutes friendship and, above all, what changes digital media and means of communication are causing in this respect. Arranged into sections entitled “Making Friends”, “Having Friends”, and “Losing Friends” this special kind of interpersonal relationship is examined throughout all eras. The “discovery table” then offers the possibility of interacting and exchanging information with one another, either analogously or digitally, from using messages sent by note to those sent by robots. The supporting programme of guided tours, discussions, workshops, and film screenings is aimed at both adults and children.

Shine on Me. Wir und die Sonne

The sun enables and influences life on earth like nothing else. It is the energy source, rhythm generator, and centre of our planetary system – and has not yet been completely researched, not by far. No wonder, therefore, that mankind has always had a special relationship with this star. The “Shine on Me. The Sun and Us” exhibition is dedicated to the sun and the many facets of its scientific and cultural significance. Divided into seven areas, its role is examined as a deity, timer, symbol, emitter of light, health factor, energy source, and star. From ancient rituals to modern technology, this covers a broad spectrum of human history. The topic is made more accessible to both children and adults with an accompanying programme of lectures, discussions, readings, and guided tours.

Politics of Design, Design of Politics

With the exhibition “Friedrich von Borries. Politics of Design – Design of Politics”, the Neue Sammlung continues its exhibition series on contemporary positions in design, launched in 2015, and now in its fourth year. Under the conceptual direction of Friedrich von Borries, the exhibition breaks down museum boundaries in the permanent collection and combines museum pieces with DIY objects contributed by participants in an open call. The heart of the exhibition is its aim to question the interaction between design and politics: To what extent are design objects products of political dynamics? How can design contribute to changing these dynamics? These questions will be discussed in the context of the exhibition in workshops with representatives from politics, science, and culture.

111/99. Questioning the Modernist Design Vocabulary

At the Werkbundarchiv – Museum der Dinge in Berlin there is a sequence of four exhibitions on show, the last of which runs until the beginning of next year. These exhibitions demonstrate the connections between the Deutscher Werkbund, founded in 1907, and the Bauhaus, founded in 1919, and also the influences on modernism emanating from the institutions. The first part in the series displays commercial graphics that illustrate the development from Art Nouveau to modernism.

Reflex Bauhaus

Bauhaus in 2019 is going to be celebrated throughout the world with a large number of exhibitions and projects. The Design Museum in Munich is also taking up the theme and at the same time emphasises its own historical ties, directly after the founding of the museum in 1925. “Reflex Bauhaus. 40 Objects – 5 Conversations” not only presents a large number of original objects from the collection’s inventory, including textiles, furniture, lighting, and ceramics, but also places them in context with contemporary works. Five artists, namely the designer Ayzit Bostan, the poet Barbara Köhler, the architect Anupama Kundoo, the composer Junya Oikawa, and the artist Sofie Thorsen have been invited to develop a stance in dialogue with one of the exhibits. The aim is to “enable viewers to not only identify the historical origins of these objects, but also to reflect on them today”.